The 3rd Transatlantic One-man Kayak Expedition

Aleksander Doba is attempting a transatlantic one-man kayak expedition from North America to Europe, starting in New York and hopefully arriving to Portugal. 

Aleksander Doba with Denison yacht brokers Steve Messenger and Patrick Hopkins.

Read the story from his own words:

People say that the third time lucky. That is why I am heading again to the Atlantic. I would like to set off on the 29^th of May 2016 from the mainland part of New York with the intention of reaching Europe. I am dreaming of reaching Portugal on my 70^th birthday. I am determined and I believe that I will accomplish that. It is supposed to be an independent, sole and without any help from outside excursion, just like the last two. I will start for the third time however for the first time I will take the Northern Route from one continent to the other. If I achieve this, I will be the first Pole and the first man in history who accomplished that. It will be a unique, difficult but also exciting journey.

I have been preparing for this journey since a long time ago. The assumptions are the same as by my previous achievements. The excursion is supposed to be independent, sole, without any help from the outside, in the kayak between the continents, using only my own muscles’ strength. The planned number of kilometers to kayak should be similar to the distance made during the Second Transatlantic Excursion. However I will be swimming more North. Due to stronger winds and more frequent storms it will be harder. On the other hand I will kayak closer to the shipping routes, so the help will be closer.

Why Once Again…

My third expedition is a consequence of a predetermined plan. From the beginning I planned my transatlantic expedition to consist of three stages.

I am going to kayak with the same oceanic kayak, which accompanied me already twice. It is a unique kayak, invented and designed especially for me and in thought of such expeditions. It was built in Andrzej Arminski’s shipyard. It has two basic features: it is unsinkable and it cannot swim upside down.

The “sandwich” construction type has two special carbon fiber resin filtered walls. Between them there is a 0.9mm thick spacer which is made of a very light, rigid, non-water-absorbent material. If the hull was to submerge into the water it will never sink, it will always come out. The kayak has several displacement champers. Using an appropriate design and thanks to the sword made of acid resistant steel (the thickness of the blade 12mm, width 200mmm, depth in water 750mm) the kayak cannot swim upside-down. All this causes that I can feel safe in my kayak, also during this expedition.

KAYAK “OLO” – the length of the kayak 7m, width 1m, weight 700kg (accessories included)